Awards

Over the past 36 years, LEAP has received numerous awards and accolades. Some recent highlights are listed below.

2010

Met Life Foundation and the Afterschool AllianceLEAP’s Afterschool Program for JHS 22 was awarded one of six Afterschool Innovator Awards, a national award for innovation and excellence. It recognized the program’s success in providing multiple benefits and services to middle school students through a hands-on, arts-based approach to teaching the academic curriculum.

US Department of EducationLEAP was awarded two prestigious and highly competitive grants from the US Department of Education. The first for LEAP’s American History Comes Alive Program which was created in collaboration with Columbia University and helps Manhattan teachers improve their teaching of American history. The second was awarded to expand LEAP’s model Active Learning Leads to Literacy Program to grades 6-8.

2009

US Department of Education (two grants)LEAP received a highly competitive grant from the US Department of Education to train teachers in the Bronx in innovative ways to teach American history. The program was conducted in collaboration with Columbia University.

Arts and Business Council of New YorkLEAP received the Arts and Business Council of New York’s Encore Award for best arts-business partnership for LEAP’s Fidelity FutureStage Program.

21st Century Community Learning Centers Program, funded by the USDOELEAP received a grant to conduct two afterschool arts-based programs in Brooklyn at PS 84 and PS 19.

2008

US Department of Education (two grants)LEAP was awarded two US Department of Education Federal grants, including a four-year grant to expand its nationally-recognized ALLL K-2 program to grades 3-5. This was one of only 14 grants awarded nationally.

Partnership for After School Education (PASE)Jim Pugliese, a LEAP afterschool Site Supervisor, was awarded a PASEsetter award from the Partnership for After School Education (PASE) for his accomplishments in helping to revitalize JHS 22, a failing middle school in the Bronx.

2003-2006

US Department of EducationLEAP was awarded a highly competitive US Department of Education three-year grant to develop a program that uses the arts to increase students’ literacy skills in kindergarten through second grade. This grant included funding for an independent evaluation conducted by two professors from New York University.

The USDOE identified the ALLL Program evaluation as one of only a few successful quantitative studies of the impact of arts in education in the nation, and one of the three most successful early childhood literacy programs they have funded.

2000

Industrial Bank of Japan (IBJ)LEAP received over $100,000 from Industrial Bank of Japan (now known as Mizuho Financial Group) to produce its nationally recognized Global Understanding/Cultural Literacy book series. The purpose of the grant was to help American students develop a better understanding of the cultural values and customs of 12 diverse countries around the world.

1998

LEAP is selected to be one of the agencies serving the NYCDOE Saturday Academies and Summer Schools Programs, which Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein called “a major factor” in citywide gains on standardized tests for 5th graders.

1981

National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH)The National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) awarded LEAP, working with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a grant to develop Understanding History Through Art. The purpose of the grant was to create a set of educational materials to enable schools to look at art works as historic documents. LEAP, working with museum curators, produced materials including 100 slides accompanied by nine lectures ranging from Egyptian to modern art, self-guided tours of museum galleries, and follow-up, hands-on activities.

1977

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund awarded LEAP a grant and cited it as a “model for the nation".

ALLL Recognition

The ALLL Program has received broad recognition for its effectiveness. Based on ALLL’s success and the national recognition that it is receiving, LEAP was awarded a four-year US Department of Education (USDOE) Federal grant to expand ALLL strategies for literacy instruction to grades 3-5 and 6-8 and charter schools. The four-year federal grant for ALLL in grades 3-5 was ranked fourth of all grants awarded in 2008-09 by the USDOE. The USDOE has cited LEAP’s ALLL Program as one of only a few programs demonstrating the successful impact of an integrated arts program on literacy in the nation. ALLL has been extremely successful in changing the way New York City schools think about literacy instruction.

In New York City, the ALLL Program has received strong support from the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE):

In 2008's final ALLL workshop at NYU, Dr. Marcia Lyles, Deputy Chancellor of the NYCDOE, praised LEAP saying, “ALLL exemplifies what we should be doing…, [providing] all the opportunities for success and excellence for every child”; and

LEAP is one of only 24 agencies contracted by the NYCDOE to provide early childhood professional development, ranking number 9, thus recognizing the effectiveness of ALLL Program.

The ALLL Program also received strong support from classroom teachers and K-2 students. One teacher said: “I love the way [the teacher] integrated movement and yoga into her lessons. Brilliant!” Another teacher reported: “Before this program the students had difficulty coming up with topics to write. That is not true now. The vocabulary of the students has greatly improved. I have been teaching for a long time, and this program has proven to be the most beneficial for my students. Thanks!”

At the request of the USDOE, LEAP has presented the ALLL Program at several national educational conferences.

LEAP is selected to be one of the agencies serving the NYCDOE Saturday Academies and Summer Schools Programs, which Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein called “a major factor” in citywide gains on standardized tests for 5th graders.